CN113795802A

CN113795802A - Autonomous mine car operation

Info

Publication number: CN113795802A
Application number: CN202080034423.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 西莫·赛尔玛; 安蒂·雷亭恩; 泰穆·帕肯宁; 艾莎·帕亚拉; 瑞库·普利
Original assignee: Sandvik Mining and Construction Oy
Current assignee: Sandvik Mining and Construction Oy
Priority date: 2019-05-14
Filing date: 2020-05-12
Publication date: 2021-12-14
Also published as: EP3739419A1; ZA202107816B; US20220251809A1; CL2021002978A1; CA3135016A1; AU2020274212A1; EP3739419B1; WO2020229489A1

Abstract

According to an example aspect of the invention, there is provided a method comprising: detecting a dust condition for an autonomously operating mine car performing an optical environmental scan to locate the mine car at a worksite; in response to detecting the dust condition, transitioning the mine car operating in an autonomous driving mode to a dust driving mode associated with one or more control actions for autonomous operation of the mine car; controlling dead reckoning-based positioning to update the location of the mine car during the dust driving mode; monitoring a dead reckoning error parameter during the dust driving mode; and controlling the tramcar to stop or slow down in response to the dead reckoning error parameter reaching an error threshold.

Description

Autonomous mine car operation

Technical Field

The present invention relates to autonomous mine car operation, and in particular to the autonomous mode of operation of such vehicles.

Background

Mining or construction excavation sites, such as hard or soft rock mines, may include areas for automated operation of mobile mine cars (referred to herein as mine cars). The mine car may be unmanned (e.g. remotely controlled from a control room) or manned, i.e. operated by an operator in the cab of the moving vehicle. The mine cars may be autonomously operated, i.e. automatic or semi-automatic, which are operated independently in their normal operating mode without external control, but which may be operated under external control in certain operating areas or conditions, such as during an emergency.

The mine car may include one or more sensors for scanning the environment of the mine car, for example to detect obstacles and/or tunnel walls. Such a sensor may also be an optical scanning device, for example a two-dimensional laser scanning device, and may be referred to as an environmental scanning sensor. Based on the scanning data from the sensors and a predetermined environment model, it is possible to arrange location tracking, in particular in underground mines. WO2015106799 discloses a system for scanning the surroundings of a vehicle to generate data to determine the position and orientation of the vehicle. The vehicle is provided with reference point cloud data for the mine. The control unit is configured to match second point cloud data generated by a scanning device of the vehicle with the reference point cloud data to determine position data of the vehicle.

Dust may interfere with sensor-based operations. The sensor may fail to detect an obstacle due to a large amount of dust or erroneously detect dust as an obstacle. This may lead to a reduction in mine operation efficiency or even to accidents. Further improvements are needed to avoid or mitigate such problems.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention is defined by the features of the independent claims. Some specific embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus configured to perform at least, or comprising, means configured to perform at least: detecting a dust condition for an autonomously operating mine car performing an optical environmental scan to locate the mine car at a worksite, in response to detecting the dust condition, transitioning the mine car operating in an autonomous driving mode to a dust driving mode associated with one or more control actions for autonomous operation of the mine car and including or defining one or more control actions applied to limit autonomous driving of the mine car, controlling positioning based on dead reckoning to update a position of the mine car during the dust driving mode, monitoring a dead reckoning error parameter during the dust driving mode, and in response to the dead reckoning error parameter reaching an error threshold, controlling the mine car to stop or slow down.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method for controlling autonomous operation of a mine car, the method comprising: detecting a dust condition for an autonomously operating mine car that performs an optical environmental scan to locate the mine car at a worksite; in response to detecting a dust condition, transitioning the mine car operating in an autonomous driving mode to a dust driving mode, the dust driving mode being associated with one or more control actions for autonomous operation of the mine car and including or defining one or more control actions applied to limit autonomous driving of the mine car; controlling the positioning based on dead reckoning to update the location of the mine car during the dust drive mode; monitoring a dead reckoning error parameter during a dust driving mode; and controlling the tramcar to stop or slow down in response to the dead reckoning error parameter reaching an error threshold.

According to a third aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processing core and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processing core, cause the apparatus at least to perform the method or an embodiment of the method.

According to a fourth aspect, a computer program product or a (non-tangible) computer-readable medium is provided, comprising computer program code for causing a data processing apparatus to perform the method or an embodiment of the method when executed in the apparatus.

According to an embodiment of any aspect, the deceleration of the mine car is controlled in response to entering the dust ride mode.

According to an embodiment of any aspect, the scanner response signal is analyzed and a dust condition is detected from the scanner response signal analysis.

According to an embodiment of any aspect, the obstacle detection function of the mine car is deactivated in response to entering the dust driving mode.

According to an embodiment of any of the aspects, the wheel block detection function is controlled in response to entering the dust driving mode, and the mine car is controlled to stop in response to detection of wheel blocking by the wheel block detection function.

According to an embodiment of any of the aspects, the collision detection function of the mine car is controlled in response to entering the dust driving mode, and the mine car is controlled to stop in response to detection of a collision by the collision detection function.

Embodiments of any of the aspects further comprise: detecting a dust condition and/or entering a dust driving mode in response to detecting at least one of: an operator input; the mine car entering an area for which a dust driving mode has been defined in the route data or environmental data processed for the mine car, the signal from the dust detector indicating or causing a dust condition; and the number of detected points in the environmental model identified based on the scanning is below a threshold.

Embodiments of any of the aspects further comprise: monitoring the time the mine car has been in the dust drive mode and/or the distance travelled by the mine car during the dust drive mode, and controlling the mine car to stop in response to detecting that the maximum time or maximum distance in the dust drive mode has been reached.

Embodiments of any of the aspects further comprise: the method further includes monitoring the environment of the mine car during the dust driving mode, and disabling the dust driving mode in response to detecting a dust driving mode exit condition, such as a successful re-location to the mine car by a scanning-based location, or detecting one or more dust condition parameters below a dust condition threshold. The dust driving mode may be exited in response to successfully locating the mine car again based on the optical scan or in response to detecting one or more dust condition parameters below a dust condition threshold.

Embodiments of any of the aspects further comprise: notifying the operator of the dust condition and/or entering a dust driving mode.

Embodiments of any of the aspects further comprise: the availability of satellite-based positioning of the mine car is detected, and when the location of the mine car is defined based on the satellite-based positioning, the dust driving mode is prevented from being entered or deactivated.

Embodiments of any of the aspects further comprise: the location of the mine car is determined from a comparison of the tunnel profile data and reference profile data stored in the environmental model to correct the dead reckoning-based location prior to entering the dust driving mode and is determined during the dust driving mode without positioning based on optical environmental scanning, e.g. correcting the dead reckoning-based location from optical environmental scanning.

Embodiments of any of the aspects further comprise: accumulating the latitudinal error and the longitudinal error in response to entering the dust-driving mode, wherein the longitudinal error and/or the latitudinal error is estimated from a most recent historical error correction of the dead reckoning based on the positioning of the optical environment scan prior to entering the dust-driving mode. The accumulated latitudinal error and/or longitudinal error may be compared to a maximum allowable error threshold, which may also be referred to as or associated with a safety margin for the mine car. In response to the maximum allowable error threshold being exceeded, the mine car may be stopped or slowed further.

Drawings

FIG. 1 shows an example of a mine site worksite.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of an autonomous mine car according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example driving pattern of an autonomous mine car;

FIG. 4 illustrates a method in accordance with at least some embodiments;

FIG. 5 shows an example of a top view of the mine car and worksite portion; and

FIG. 6 illustrates an example device capable of supporting at least some embodiments.

Detailed Description

The term mine car herein generally refers to a mobile work machine suitable for use in different types of mining and/or construction excavation sites, such as a truck, dump truck, van, mobile rock drill or planer, mobile stiffener, bucket loader, or other type of mobile work machine that may be used in different types of surface and/or underground excavation sites. Thus, the term mine car is not in any way limited to vehicles used only at mine sites, but the mine car may be a mobile work machine used at an excavation site. The term autonomously operating mobile vehicle in this context refers to automatic or semi-automatic mobile vehicles which in their autonomous operating mode can be operated/driven independently without continuous user control, but which can be carried out under external control, for example during an emergency.

Fig. 1 shows a simplified example of a mine site 1, which in this example is an underground mine comprising an underground tunnel network 2. A plurality of moving objects, such as persons or pedestrians 3 and/or mine

cars

4, 5, 6, 7 may be present in different areas or operating zones of worksite 1 and moved between these areas or operating zones.

Worksite 1 includes a communication system, such as a wireless access system including a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) including a plurality of wireless access nodes 8. The access node 8 may communicate with wireless communication units included in the mine car or carried by the pedestrian, and with other communication equipment (not shown), such as network equipment configured to facilitate communication with a control system 9, which control system 9 may be on-site (underground or above ground) and/or remote via an intermediate network. For example, the server of the system 9 may be configured to manage at least some operations at the worksite, such as providing a UI for an operator to remotely monitor and, if desired, control automated operation of the mine cars and/or assign job tasks to the fleet and update and/or monitor task performance and status.

The system 9 may be connected to other networks and systems, such as a worksite management system, cloud services, an intermediate communication network (e.g., the internet), and so forth. The system may include or be connected to other devices or control units, such as handheld user units, vehicle units, worksite management devices/systems, remote control and/or monitoring devices/systems, data analysis devices/systems, sensor systems/devices, and so forth.

The worksite 1 may also include various other types of mine operation equipment 10 that can be connected to the control system 9, for example via the access node 8, which is not shown in detail in fig. 1. Examples of such other mine operating equipment 10 include various equipment for power, ventilation, air conditioning analysis, security, communications, and other automation equipment. For example, the worksite may include an access control system including a access control unit (PCU)11 separating the operating areas, some of which may be provided for autonomous operation of the mine cars. The pathway control system and associated PCU may be configured to allow or prevent one or more mine cars and/or one or more pedestrians from moving between zones.

Fig. 2 shows a mine car 20, which in this example is a loader or a Load and Haul (LHD) vehicle including a bucket 22. The mine car 20 may be an articulated vehicle comprising two sections connected by a joint 24. However, it should be understood that the application of the presently disclosed autonomous driving mode feature is not limited to any particular type of mine car.

The mine car 20 includes at least one control unit 30, the at least one control unit 30 being configured to control at least some functions and/or actuators of the mine car. The control unit 30 may comprise one or more computing units/processors executing computer program code stored in a memory. In some embodiments, the control unit may be connected to one or more other control units of the control system of the mine car via a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus. The control unit may include or be connected to a user interface having a display device and an operator input interface for receiving operator commands and information to send to the control unit.

In some embodiments, the control unit 30 is configured to control at least operations associated with autonomous operational control, and one or more other control units may be present in the mine car for controlling other operations. It should be understood that the control unit 30 may be configured to perform at least some of the features shown below, or multiple control units or controllers may be employed to perform these features. There may be other operational modules or functions performed by the control unit, such as an automatic driving mode selection function, at least one positioning unit/module/function and/or an obstacle detection function.

The mine car 20 may be unmanned. Thus, the user interface may be remote from the vehicle and the vehicle may be controlled via the communication network by an operator in the tunnel, or in a control room at the mine site or even remotely from the mine. A control unit external to the mine car 20, such as in the control system 9, may be configured to perform some of the features shown below.

The mine car 20 includes one or more scanning units or scanners 40, the one or more scanning units or scanners 40 being configured to perform scanning of the environment of the mine car. In one embodiment, for example, the scanner 40 may be a 2D scanner configured to monitor the tunnel wall at a desired height. The control unit 30 may compare the operationally scanned tunnel profile data with reference profile data stored in the environmental model and locate the mine car based on finding a match in the environmental model and/or based on correcting the location by dead reckoning.

In some embodiments, a 3D scanner is used, in which case 3D scan data or point cloud data is generated and used to locate the mine car. An environmental model, such as an underground tunnel model, may be generated and updated using the point cloud data generated from the scan, which may be employed to locate the mine car at the worksite. In some embodiments, the results of these scans are used to detect the position and orientation of the mine car and one or more other components thereof (e.g., the scanner 40 or the bucket 22).

The mine car 20 or its control unit 30 may perform a point cloud matching function for matching the operational (scanned) point cloud data (scanned by the scanner 40) with environmental model point cloud data, i.e., reference point cloud data. From the match between the detected operating point cloud data and the reference cloud data, the position and orientation of another point of interest of the scanning device and/or vehicle, for example the (leading edge) of the bucket 22, can be determined in the mine coordinate system.

The driving plan or route plan may define the route on which the mine car 20 is to be driven and may be used as an input for automatic control of the mine car. The plan may be generated off-line and off-site (e.g., in an office), or on-board the mine car (e.g., by teaching driving). The plan may define a start point, an end point, and a set of waypoints for autonomous driving. Such a plan may be sent to or otherwise loaded into the mine car, memory of the mine car, via a wired or wireless connection, for access by the control unit 30.

Further improvements in autonomous mine car operation are now provided, as will be further described below. FIG. 3 illustrates an operational driving pattern for a mine car, such as vehicle 20. When the mine car is in the manual drive mode 300, the operator manually drives the mine car through a remote control or locally at the mine car through operator controls. The operator may set the mine car to a (default) autonomous driving mode 310 in which the mine car is automatically driven on a designated route, for example between a loading point and a dump shaft, 310. The transition from manual mode 300 to autonomous mode 310 may require appropriate security clearance, such as validation of a channel control system for the autonomous operating area.

The mine car 20 may automatically transition from the default automatic mode 310 to the dust driving mode 320 in response to detecting a dust condition. The dust condition may be detected when the mine car 20 is operating in an autonomous driving mode and the dead reckoning based position is corrected according to a positioning based on optical scanning, for example based on a mapping of scanned tunnel profile data from a 2D or 3D scanner with the environmental model described above. For example, when the mine car 20 enters the dust cloud 50, a dust condition may be detected. The dust driving mode may include or define one or more control actions for limiting autonomous driving of the mine car. For example, the mine car may be controlled to automatically return to the default autopilot mode 310 upon termination of a dust condition.

It should be understood that various modifications or additions may be made to the schema of fig. 3. For example, the dust driving mode may be a sub-mode or a sub-state of the automatic driving mode, and may be indicated in the automatic driving program by a specific flag. Other driving modes (or profiles of modes) may exist, such as a semi-autonomous driving mode.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method according to some embodiments. The method may be carried out by a mine car and its control equipment, for example by the mine car 20 and by its control unit 30.

The method for controlling autonomous driving of a mine car may include: dust conditions for an autonomous operating mine car that performs an optical environmental scan to locate the mine car at a worksite are detected 410. In response to detecting the dust condition, the mine car operating in the autonomous driving mode is switched 420 to the dust driving mode. The dust driving mode is associated with one or more control actions for autonomous operation of the mine car. Thus, the dust driving mode may generally refer to a mode in which relevant control actions are performed on the mine car to achieve autonomous driving unaffected by dust.

The control 430 positions based on dead reckoning to update the location of the mine car during the dust drive mode. The location of the mine car previously determined from the scanning-based location can then be updated according to the dead reckoning-based location function of the mine car.

During the dirt driving mode, control 440 monitors the dead reckoning error parameter. In response to the dead reckoning error parameter reaching an error threshold, the control 450 stops or decelerates the mine car.

Thus, the mine car is located by dead reckoning and, although dust prevents scanner-based location, the mine car may continue to drive autonomously, but within preconfigured error limits. The positioning based on the optical environment scan may be turned off in response to entering the dust driving mode, or the position result by the optical environment scan may be ignored. A dust condition generally refers to a condition in which it is detected, directly or indirectly, that the mine car or a component thereof (e.g. a scanner) is affected by dust, for example when a sufficient number of matching environment model points can no longer be found upon entering a dust cloud. Controlling actions, for example in

blocks

430 and 440, may refer to causing initiation or activation of the respective action (if desired, i.e., in some cases such action may have been performed, whereby the activation signal may be omitted significantly). There are a variety of options for arranging the dust condition analysis and detection, one or more of which may be applied in/before block 410, some of which are shown below.

In some embodiments, the mine car 20 may include one or more sensors that provide operating environment data that is analyzed for dust condition detection. In response to the analyzed parameter defined based on the analysis satisfying at least one predetermined threshold, a dust condition may be detected.

In some embodiments, a dust condition may be detected 410 and/or a dust driving mode may be entered 420 in response to detecting at least one of:

-an operator input. For example, an input to transition to the dust control mode 320 may be received from an operator monitoring the mine car 20 via a remote monitoring unit.

-the mine car entering an area for which a dust driving mode has been defined in the route data or environment model data processed for the mine car. Examples of such areas include loading (or drag point) and unloading (or dump point) areas. Especially at mine dump point areas, a lot of dust may be present.

-the signal from the dust detector indicates or causes a dust condition. For example, the dust driving mode 320 may be entered 420 in response to detecting that an amount of dust sensed by the dust detector reaches a (dust condition) threshold.

-the number of detected/matching points in the environmental model identified based on the scanning is below a threshold.

The dust condition detection in block 410 may include analyzing the scanner response signal. The control unit 30 may be configured to process information obtained based on the response signal received by the scanner 40 and to detect 410 a dust condition from the scanner response signal analysis.

In one embodiment, the reflected or echo signals from the scanner 40 are analyzed to detect dust conditions. The control unit 30 may be configured to identify the presence of the dust cloud 50 based on detecting a plurality of echoes, which are identified as being caused by dust particles. The control unit 30 may be configured to detect a dust cloud based on the amount of detected "bad measurements", which refers to the measured amount of coordinates that are sufficiently far away from the environment model (exceeding a maximum deviation threshold). When such measured quantity exceeds a limit value, the dust driving mode is entered 420. Another condition for entering the dust driving mode 320 may be that the current location confidence needs to be sufficiently high when a dust cloud condition is detected 410.

In block 430, the progress of the mine car 20 may be determined according to a dead reckoning algorithm configured to accumulate the distance traveled and the heading of the vehicle according to input signals indicative of vehicle wheel rotation and relative heading. Vehicle 20 may include a positioning unit, which may be part of or separate from control unit 30, configured to perform at least some dead reckoning-based positioning and may also be configured to define dead reckoning errors in response to block 430. It should be appreciated that the system may include other operational modules that supplement the dead reckoning-based position tracking, such as a tire slip compensation and/or wear compensation module.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a top view of the mine car 20 being driven along a route defined by a set of

route points

500a, 500b, 500 c. The dashed lines show an example path during the dust driving mode and deviations from the above waypoints caused by dead reckoning positioning errors.

In some embodiments, the positioning/control unit 30 accumulates latitudinal errors (in the y-direction) and longitudinal errors (in the x-direction in the driving direction) in response to entering the dust-ride mode (and block 320) and while the mine car 20 is moving. In one embodiment, longitudinal and/or latitudinal errors are estimated from recent historical error corrections to dead reckoning by scanning-based positioning (e.g., such historical error correction data recorded over a predetermined time or distance before entering a dust driving mode). For example, the longitudinal error may be estimated based on a previously detected need for a required longitudinal error correction over a given longitudinal distance before entering the dust driving mode. For example, the latitude error may be estimated from heading corrections based on the scanned location at a predetermined distance or time before entering the dust driving mode. The latitude error may be corrected based on the corrected change in heading and the heading obtained from the gyroscope of the mine car 20. Such estimates may be filtered to obtain trends to avoid excessive transient bias effects.

The accumulated latitude and/or longitudinal error is compared to a maximum allowable error threshold, which may also be referred to as or associated with the safety margin of the mine car. In response to the maximum allowable error threshold being exceeded, the mine car 20 may be stopped or slowed further (block 450). These error counters are reset when exiting the dust mode. Monitoring latitude errors is particularly important in underground tunnels. For example, when the accumulated latitude error exceeds a safety margin D, the mine car is stopped. In one embodiment, an error ellipse is determined based on the accumulated latitude error and longitudinal error. In response to detecting that the error ellipse reaches a known tunnel width (which may be an estimate based on an environmental model), the mine car may stop.

The error threshold employed in block 440 may be configurable. In some embodiments, the error threshold is automatically configured based on the environment through which the mine car passes and/or the characteristics of the mine car. The error threshold may be configured according to the environmental model, the route model and/or the path the mine car has traversed during the dust driving mode. In one example, the width W of the tunnel is estimated from the environment model, and the error threshold ET may define a maximum allowed estimated vehicle distance from the wall, and may be defined as:

ET W- (D + VW (vehicle width))

In some embodiments, in the dust-ride mode, the time the mine car is in the dust-ride mode and/or the distance traveled by the mine car is monitored. In response to detecting a maximum time or distance to achieve the dust driving mode, the mine car is controlled to stop. In one embodiment, the allowable driving distance and/or time is influenced by an environmental model, a route model and/or the path the mine car travels during the dust driving mode. For example, if there is a curve on the route during the dust driving mode, the allowed driving distance and/or time is reduced/decreased. Therefore, the influence of the path or route profile on the dead reckoning accuracy can be considered.

There are a number of control actions that may be performed in block 420 or in response to block 420, some of which are described below.

In some embodiments, deceleration of the mine car is controlled in response to entering the dust ride mode. For example, the control unit 30 may reduce the speed of the vehicle to a value in the range of 2 to 10 km/h during the dust driving mode. The control unit 30 may set a speed limit for the vehicle. The speed of the vehicle may be gradually reduced to the relevant value or range.

In some embodiments, the obstacle detection function, which refers to the function of detecting in advance an obstacle that the mine car may collide with, based on information from the scanner 40, is deactivated in response to entering the dust driving mode. The obstacle detection function is performed based on the scanning result, and dust particles may cause an obstacle to be erroneously detected and the vehicle to be stopped, or an inappropriate corrective steering/decelerating action.

In some embodiments, the wheel blockage detection function is activated in response to entering the dust driving mode. The wheel blockage detection function may be provided by an algorithm configured to process signals indicative of movement of the mine car and detect that the mine car has entered a wheel blockage based on detecting a match with a predetermined movement pattern or model. The mine car 20 is controlled to stop in response to the detection of a wheel blockage by the wheel blockage detection function.

In one embodiment, the wheel blockage detection function is activated only in the vicinity of the unloading/dumping point area. Such areas may be defined in the environmental model or route data (or another input data set) of the mine car. For example, the wheel blockage detection function may be activated only when a road segment is detected that includes or precedes a dump point.

There may be other criteria for activating the wheel blockage detection function, such as a distance from the dump point or a distance from the end of the dump point road segment. For example, when the mine car 20 enters a dust driving mode, or in a dust driving mode, enters/is on a dump point road segment and the distance from the end of the road segment is below an activation limit, the wheel block detection algorithm and the wheel block climb detection algorithm are enabled. The wheel block climb algorithm refers to an algorithm that detects whether the vehicle starts climbing a wheel block. If either algorithm is triggered, the vehicle stops (e.g., by controlling the gear to neutral and opening the service brakes).

In one example, when the mine car 20 is about to enter a dump point (e.g., at waypoint 500 c) and the dust drive mode is active, or when the vehicle approaches the dump point and enters the dust drive mode:

the vehicle may be switched to a dust dump mode in which it follows a predetermined trajectory but lowers the throttle so that it does not cross the wheel block.

The suspension arm controller of the vehicle can be controlled to raise the suspension arm so that it does not hit the wheel block, but is not allowed to start the dumping movement. For example, the bucket may be controlled to approach a maximum upward position of the bucket.

The vehicle will be driven forward to a given maximum distance and the wheel block detection function monitors the vehicle movement to detect wheel block contact. If wheel blocking contact is successfully detected, dumping may be performed. If no wheel blockage is detected or a wheel blockage climb is detected within the maximum distance, an error may be induced.

-not entering a dust driving mode if the dump point is reached before a dust condition is detected. Thus, it is possible to avoid entering the mode when dust occurs during pouring.

In the dust driving mode, the accumulated position error and the timer keeping track of the dust driving mode duration will persist during the dump. Unless the vehicle is moving, the accumulated position error and the timer are not incremented.

In some embodiments, the collision (or impact/strike) detection function of the mine car 20 is controlled, i.e., activated (if not already activated), in response to entering the dust driving mode. The mine car is controlled to stop in response to detection of a collision with a wall or another obstacle by a collision detection function, which may be performed by the control unit 30 (or another unit).

When driving in the dust driving mode, the collision detection function may be configured to detect, for example, a collision or scratch with the tunnel wall based on processing inertial measurements and odometer information. In one example embodiment, the speed of the vehicle may be continuously monitored, and the collision detection function detects a collision in response to a rapid deceleration (exceeding a triggering parameter). It should be noted that the parameters used to cause a collision detection may be configurable so that a collision is detected while the mine car is still running (e.g. the speed of the car needs to be reduced by 50% compared to the previous reference speed during time t).

The collision detection function may be configured to process the 3D acceleration vector to detect deceleration that triggers obstacle detection. For example, the acceleration vector may be processed or smoothed by two sliding windows of length "short" and "long". The "long" vector may indicate approximately the direction of gravity, while the "short" vector may indicate a low pass filtered estimate of the current vehicle acceleration. This function can calculate the projection of the short vector on a plane orthogonal to the long vector. In other words, a low pass filtered lateral acceleration associated with gravity is calculated. If the lateral acceleration exceeds a preconfigured limit value, a collision is detected.

Other parameters may also be used for the collision detection function for detecting a collision during the dust driving mode. For example, wheel slip detection may be employed and an error may be caused in response to detecting wheel slip (and the vehicle may stop), which may be due to the vehicle hitting a wall and causing an error in the positioning based on dead reckoning.

In some embodiments, the mine car 20 continues to monitor the environment of the mine car during the dust driving mode, i.e., after block 420. Thus, the control unit 30 may continuously analyze the scanned data from the scanner and attempt to find matching points in the environmental model (in some embodiments, as a background process based on the current driving road segment in the road segment navigation) to re-locate the mine car 20. Even if no perfect match is found (the number of matching points between the scanned data and the environmental model is below a predetermined limit), the control unit 30 may be configured to use these matching points to further supplement or check the dead reckoning-based positioning. In one embodiment, the position correction using the scanner 40 is thus not turned off, but the correction gain may be reduced according to the amount of detected light beam actually hitting the wall. The scanner-based positioning may enter a certain mode or state during the dust driving mode, wherein correlation errors (between the scanned data and the environmental model data) do not cause the vehicle to stop.

The dust driving mode may be deactivated in response to detecting a dust driving mode exit condition. The monitoring for an exit condition may be another block in the method of fig. 4 after block 430/440. Thus, the mine car 20 may be transitioned from the dust driving mode 320 to the default autonomous driving mode 310, or in some cases, to the manual driving mode 300 or stopped. The dust driving mode exit condition may be the termination of a dust condition or another triggering event.

In some embodiments, the dust drive mode is exited in response to successful re-location of the mine car. In response to the number of detected points in the environmental model (within the region being analyzed) reaching a predetermined threshold, i.e., the resulting scan-based location confidence is sufficiently high, the mine car 20 may be repositioned.

In some embodiments, the dust driving mode may be disabled in response to detecting that one or more dust condition parameters are below a dust condition threshold. For example, the dust driving mode 320 may be exited in response to detecting that the amount of dust sensed by the dust detector has decreased below a threshold.

In some embodiments, the mine car 20 is configured to define an indication in the route data or environmental model data of dust conditions and/or dust driving patterns at an area of the worksite (obstacles are ignored and interpreted as dust). For example, an indication may be defined for a dump point road segment or route point 500c where a significant amount of dust may often be present. Thus, the mine car may automatically transition to the dust driving mode 320 when entering the road segment or heading toward the waypoint 500 c.

In some embodiments, the operator is notified of the dust condition and/or enters a dust driving mode 320. The control unit 30 may be configured to send information to the system 9 via the wireless connection indicating the switch to the dust driving mode of the mine car for display on the UI of the operator unit. Such a notification may be indicated by a specific dust driving mode field of a signal including a channel information signal (e.g., including video information) transmitted from the vehicle 20, for example. The system may be configured to receive various inputs from the operator during the dust driving mode, such as inputs for switching to a manual operating mode, stopping the vehicle, etc. Corresponding control signals are sent to the mine car 20, and the control unit 30 may be configured to control the automatic operation of the mine car 20 during the dust driving mode in accordance with the control signals.

In some embodiments, the mine car 20 includes a satellite-based positioning unit, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit. The mine car may be configured to activate such a locating unit and search for a locating signal during the dust condition mode. The mine car can be accurately located when entering the area where the locating signal is available. The dust driving mode may be deactivated when the location of the mine car may be defined based on satellite based positioning. In one embodiment, a dust driving mode is prevented from being entered 420 and/or dust conditions monitored when the location of the mine car is defined based on satellite-based positioning.

It should be understood that various other features may supplement or distinguish at least some of the above-described embodiments. For example, other user interaction and/or automation functions may be present to further facilitate operator monitoring of the mine car during the dust mode, selection of appropriate actions to overcome problems with cantilever trajectory/positioning, and control of the mine car.

In one embodiment, the location of the mine car 20 during the dust driving mode may be updated from an external location reference unit, if available. For example, the position reference unit may be a wireless signal transmitting unit at a tunnel wall or a position tracking unit of another vehicle. An RF tag, an access point, a visually readable code, or another fixed unit whose location is accurately known may be used as a location reference. Reference is also made to US7899599, which discloses that such identifiers can be used to update the dead reckoning based position.

The electronic device comprising the electronic circuitry may be a device for implementing at least some of the above-described embodiments, for example in connection with the method shown in fig. 4 and the features described for the control unit 30. The device may be included in at least one computing device connected to or integrated into the control system of the mine car. Such a control system may be an intelligent on-board control system that controls the operation of various subsystems of the mine car, such as the hydraulic system, motors, rock drills, etc. Such control systems are usually distributed and comprise, for example, a number of individual modules which are connected via a bus system of Controller Area Network (CAN) nodes.

FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified example device capable of supporting at least some embodiments of the present invention. A device 60 is shown, which device 60 may be configured to perform at least some of the embodiments relating to the operation of the dust driving mode described above. In some embodiments, the apparatus 60 includes or implements the control unit 30 or other modules, functions, and/or units for performing at least some of the above-described embodiments.

Included in the device 60 is a processor 61, which processor 61 may for example comprise a single-core or multi-core processor. The processor 61 may comprise more than one processor. The processor may include at least one application specific integrated circuit ASIC. The processor may comprise at least one field programmable gate array FPGA. The processor may be configured, at least in part, by computer instructions to perform actions.

The device 60 may include a memory 62. The memory may include random access memory and/or persistent memory. Which may be at least partially accessed by the processor 61. The memory may be at least partially included in the processor 61. The memory may be at least partially external to, but accessible by, device 60. The memory 62 may be a means for storing information, such as parameters 64 that affect the operation of the device. In particular, the parameter information may comprise parameter information affecting a characteristic related to the dust driving mode, such as a threshold value.

The memory 62 may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer program code 63, the computer program code 63 comprising computer instructions, the processor 61 being configured to execute the computer instructions. When computer instructions configured to cause the processor to perform a particular action are stored in the memory, and the device as a whole is configured to operate under the direction of the processor using the computer instructions from the memory, the processor and/or at least one processing core thereof may be considered to be configured to perform said particular action. The processor may form, together with the memory and the computer program code, means in the device for performing at least some of the above-described method steps.

The device 60 may comprise a communication unit 65 comprising a transmitter and/or a receiver. The transmitter and receiver may be configured to transmit and receive data and control commands to and from the interior and exterior of the mine car, respectively. The transmitter and/or receiver may be configured to operate, for example, in accordance with global system for mobile communications (GSM), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), 3GPP new radio access technology (N-RAT), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), and/or ethernet standards. Device 60 may include a Near Field Communication (NFC) transceiver. The NFC transceiver may support at least one NFC technology, such as NFC, bluetooth, or the like.

The device 60 may include or be connected to a UI. The UI may include at least one of a display 66, a speaker, an input device 67 such as a keyboard, joystick, touch screen, and/or microphone. The UI may be configured to display views according to the above-described embodiments. The user may operate the device and control at least some of the above features. In some embodiments, the user may control the mine car 20 via the UI, such as manually steering the vehicle, operating the boom, changing the steering mode, changing the display view, modifying the parameters 64, and the like.

The device 60 may also include and/or be connected to other units, devices, and systems, such as one or more sensor devices 68, such as a scanner 40 or other sensor device that senses a characteristic of the environment of the device 60 or the mine car (e.g., wheel rotation or change in orientation).

The processor 61, the memory 62, the communication unit 65 and the UI may be interconnected by electrical leads inside the device 60 in a number of different ways. For example, each of the aforementioned devices may be individually connected to a main bus internal to the device to allow the devices to exchange information. However, it will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that this is only an example and that various ways of connecting at least two of the aforementioned devices to each other may be chosen according to this embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention.

It is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments of the invention are not limited to the particular structures, process steps, or materials disclosed herein, but extend to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting.

Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Where a numerical value is referred to using a term such as, for example, about or substantially, this exact numerical value is also disclosed.

As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presentation in a common collection without indications to the contrary. In addition, reference may be made herein to various embodiments and examples of the invention and alternatives to various components thereof. It should be understood that such embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as actual equivalents to each other, but are to be considered as separate and autonomous representations of the invention.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the previous description, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of lengths, widths, shapes, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

While the foregoing examples illustrate the principles of the invention in one or more particular applications, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be made without departing from the inventive concepts and principles of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not intended to be limited, except as by the claims set forth below.

The verbs "comprising" and "having" are used in this document as open-ended limitations that neither exclude nor require the presence of unrecited features. The features set forth in the dependent claims can be freely combined with one another, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Furthermore, it should be understood that the use of "a" or "an" or "the singular, i.e., the singular, does not exclude the plural.

Claims

1. An apparatus, the apparatus comprising means configured to perform:

-detecting (410) a dust condition for an autonomous operating tramcar (20), the autonomous operating tramcar (20) performing an optical environmental scan to locate the tramcar at a worksite,

-in response to detecting the dust condition, switching (420) the mine car operating in an autonomous driving mode to a dust driving mode (320), the dust driving mode being associated with one or more control actions for autonomous operation of the mine car, wherein the dust driving mode includes or defines one or more control actions applied to limit autonomous driving of the mine car,

-controlling (430) the positioning based on dead reckoning to update the location of the mine car during the dust driving mode,

-monitoring (440) a dead reckoning error parameter during said dust driving mode, and

-controlling (450) the mine car to stop or slow down in response to the dead reckoning error parameter reaching an error threshold.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device is further configured to perform: controlling deceleration of the mine car (20) in response to entering the dust-ride mode.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the device is further configured to perform:

-analyzing the scanner response signal, and

-detecting said dust condition based on a scanner response signal analysis.

4. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is further configured to perform: deactivating an obstacle detection function of the mine car in response to entering the dust driving mode.

5. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is further configured to perform: controlling a wheel blockage detection function in response to entering the dust driving mode; and controlling the mine car (20) to stop in response to detection of a wheel blockage by the wheel blockage detection function.

6. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is further configured to perform: controlling a collision detection function of the mine car (20) in response to entering the dust driving mode; and controlling the mine car to stop in response to detection of a collision by the collision detection function.

7. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is further configured to perform: detecting (410) the dust condition and/or entering (420) the dust driving mode in response to detecting at least one of:

the mine car (20) enters an area for which a dust driving mode has been defined in the route data or environmental data processed for the mine car,

a signal from a dust detector is indicative of or causes the dust condition; and

the number of detected points in the environmental model identified based on the scan is below a threshold.

8. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is further configured to perform:

-monitoring the time that the mine car (20) has been in the dust driving mode, and

-controlling the mine car to stop in response to detecting that the maximum time for the dust driving mode is reached.

9. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is further configured to perform: monitoring an environment of the mine car (20) during the dust driving mode, and disabling the dust driving mode in response to detecting a dust driving mode exit condition, wherein the dust driving mode is exited in response to successfully locating the mine car again based on the optical scan or in response to detecting one or more dust condition parameters below a dust condition threshold.

10. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is further configured to perform: defining the indication of the dust condition and/or dust driving pattern in route data or an environmental model at an area of the worksite where the dust condition is detected.

11. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is further configured to perform: notifying an operator of the dust condition and/or entering the dust driving mode.

12. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is configured to: determining the location of the mine car from a comparison of tunnel profile data and reference profile data stored in an environmental model to correct the dead reckoning based location prior to entering the dust driving mode and to determine the location during the dust driving mode without locating based on the optical environmental scan.

13. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is configured to: accumulating a latitudinal error and a longitudinal error in response to entering the dust-driving mode, wherein the longitudinal error and/or the latitudinal error is estimated from a most recent historical error correction of dead reckoning based on the location of the optical environment scan prior to entering the dust-driving mode.

14. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the device is further configured to perform:

-detecting the availability of the mine car (20) based on satellite positioning, and

-preventing entry into or disabling the dust driving mode when defining the location of the mine car according to satellite based positioning.

15. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus is an underground loading vehicle and/or a dumping vehicle or an underground rock drill.

16. A method for controlling operation of an autonomous mining vehicle, the method comprising:

-detecting (410) a dust condition for an autonomous operating tramcar (20) performing an optical environmental scan to locate the tramcar at a worksite,

-controlling (430) the dead reckoning based positioning to update the location of the mine car during the dust driving mode,

17. A computer program comprising code for causing a method according to claim 16 to be performed when executed in a data processing apparatus.